F-Deep Success4

Baltimore Ravens Gameday HQ

Denver’s trio of dynamic receivers (along with Peyton Manning) put a lot of pressure on defenses, testing a team’s secondary depth.
The openings along the defensive line will
likely be filled in a similar manner. The Seahawks
have drafted six defensive linemen over the past
two years and have topped that with contracts to
numerous undrafted free agents.
When asked about the losses to the team’s
defense, secondary coach Kris Richard told
Seahawks.com: “It’s next man. Let’s go.”
When the Steelers dominated the NFL in the
1970s, things were a bit different. Player turnover
was drastically lower in the era before free agency,
and the core of championship teams would
often return year-after-year. The roster’s depth
was staggering.
The four members of the Pro Football Hall of
Fame that anchored the Steel Curtain—“Mean” Joe
Greene, Jack Ham, Jack Lambert and Mel Blount—
played every game of their careers for the team
and played pivotal roles in their Super Bowl IX, X,
XIII and XIV victories. On the other side of the ball there were
five more Hall of Famers: Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann, John
Stallworth, Franco Harris and Mike Webster.
As legendary coach Chuck Noll said in his Hall of Fame
induction speech, “The single most important thing we had in the
Steelers of the ‘70s was the ability to work together.”
In today’s game, depth is not just an issue on defense. It’s not
breaking news that the NFL rules have become more and more
pass friendly with each season and it has added strain on already
thin rosters. The five highest passing seasons in NFL history
have occurred over the past three years and seven of the eight
quarterbacks to ever pass for over 5,000 yards in a season have
done it since 2008. In 2013, just two NFL teams ran more running
plays than passes, and the Atlanta Falcons threw the ball on over
67 percent of their plays.
The Denver Broncos reached Super Bowl XLVIII with a
similar cache of game-changing weapons to the Seahawks but on
the offensive side of the ball. Demaryius Thomas, Wes Welker,
Julius Thomas, Knowshon Moreno and Eric Decker helped future
Hall of Famer Peyton Manning pick apart defenses and exploit
their weaknesses. Manning set an NFL record with 5,477 passing
yards that he spread to 11 different sets of hands.
Manning’s uptempo offense and the Broncos’ deep group
of skill players are perfectly suited for football’s evolving style.
When they run the no-huddle, it is not uncommon for all five
players, including TE Julius Thomas and RB Moreno, to be out in a
STEVE NEHF/DENVER POST
NEIL LEIFER/NEIL LEIFER COLLECTION
Pittsburgh “Steel Curtain” defense